Given the conditions, the first question is obvious. A blizzard had just swept across the Midlands and weekend games were already beginning to be cancelled, so why, if he does not need the money, is Lote Tuqiri training in the snows of Oadby and playing for Leicester when he could be at home in Sydney watching Australia beat Pakistan in 30 degrees?

"I need my rugby," says Tuqiri, Fijian by birth although his Australian accent suggests otherwise. "And this is a novelty," he says looking out on the training-ground snow drifts while explaining that his four-year-old son has a toboggan that they intend to try out that afternoon. For an Australian interested in cricket, it gives sledging a whole new meaning.

Tuqiri, his wife and their two sons have moved from the centre of Sydney to a village just outside Leicester. "Even without the snow it's hugely different," he says. "My wife loves it. It's very dark at night, no lights, but we're enjoying it. My first boy has just started at reception [class] and the club has been really great."

So will he be back next season? According to Leicester's head coach, Richard Cockerill, it is up to Tuqiri, although Leicester have heard the stories currently doing the rounds, including one that says the 30-year-old winger has already signed to return to rugby league in Australia.

Also there is the salary cap and the ongoing bills for the new stand at Welford Road, but so far the coach is thrilled at what the veteran of 67 Tests and 30 Wallaby tries has given Leicester since his debut eight games ago. "We've been delighted," Cockerill has said. "He came with a bit of a playboy reputation, but he's been totally professional on the field, in training and in the gym, although if you were looking for sea and sand you probably wouldn't be at Leicester in the first place."

Whatever the reasoning, there is no doubt that Cockerill has done a bit of clever business luring Tuqiri away from clubs such as Bayonne and Toulon. However, it was the "playboy" side of things that got the wing moving north in the first place. Back in July, the Australian Rugby Union ended Tuqiri's contract without public explanation although there were suggestions that a late-night visit to a Melbourne casino on the eve of a Test match had tried the board's patience once too often.

Tuqiri says the case has since been settled out of court, but in the meantime he packed his bags and moved north to what he has discovered to be a rather different game from the one he knew playing for the NSW Waratahs in the Super 14. "It's different, yes it is, but I guess that has something to do with the conditions," says Tuqiri who, in last weekend's win at league leaders Saracens, gave a masterclass for wingers starved of ball.

He and Leicester's New Zealand full-back Scott Hamilton were involved in one of the few bits of open rugby on the day – the second-half break from under the Leicester posts that resulted in the Saracens and England captain, Steve Borthwick, being shown the yellow card 60 metres upfield – but for most of the time Tuqiri seemed to be buried in rucks or tied up in mauls.

"It's the way they play in the Premiership. When the ball doesn't come my way quite as much as I'd like then I have to go looking for it. It's probably not the most enjoyable thing for a back or a winger but it's got to be done," says Tuqiri, who on Saturday, weather permitting, gets his first taste of Leicester versus Wasps. He may not be sure what to expect, but he clearly hopes for less kicking than is the norm in the Guinness Premiership.

"Initially it was the way in Super Rugby. South Africa were quite successful doing it and other teams try to mimic them. Will it wear off? I hope so. You watch a few games, like when the Australians played the Welsh and that was pretty free-flowing and when New Zealand played France, that showed the way to play."

But will he be around to see the game change? It was Geordan Murphy's injury that allowed Leicester dispensation to hire Tuqiri to the end of the season and Cockerill agrees that if the Australian stays there will have to be savings elsewhere. As for Tuqiri, he admits that French interest has not entirely gone away and by then the novelty of cold, damp winters might have worn off. "That's the other thing which might tempt me to go that way – it's probably a bit warmer down there. More so Toulon."